


A Collection of Merhayes One-Shots

by greyswidows



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28815870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyswidows/pseuds/greyswidows
Summary: Just what the title implies. This is just a collection of one-shots that I've posted on my tumblr over the past few months :)
Relationships: Atticus Lincoln/Amelia Shepherd, Meredith Grey/Cormac Hayes, Winston Ndugu/Maggie Pierce
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	1. Are You With Me?

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that it'd be a good idea to post the one-shots I've written since November on here, since not everyone reads them on tumblr. They're all one shots, some with follow-ups, a couple of them are sister fics to other one shots written by a friend, but none of the sister fics need the first fic in order to understand the plot/ context. I'll be sure to note when a one-shot has a follow-up, and I'll try my best to release them back-to-back.   
> -  
> ALSO! @So_Uncreative and I have been working on a secret lil project together, that we'll begin releasing in February, so get excited for that. I know we are!!

“No. No!” Cormac Hayes’ worst nightmare was coming true. Just as he was heading out for the night, he was faced with Meredith Grey, laying unresponsive on the Grey-Sloan parking lot pavement. Cormac dropped his bag and ran to her side. “Grey! Grey!” He called out to her, praying that she would wake up and look at him. He knelt down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder gently. “Grey, can you hear me?” Everything he’d ever feared since meeting Meredith was happening. He called for help, and several hospital staff came to their aide. As he handed out orders to quickly get Meredith to safety, he held her neck and checked for a pulse. He looked over her and tried to find any signs of life. “Can you hear me, Grey?” He asked again. He wanted nothing more than for her to open her eyes. God, this couldn’t happen again. He knew he wouldn’t survive if he lost her as well. “Grey, come on. Stay with me, Grey.” He was pleading to her, to God, and to Abigail. He felt all the emotions he’d had when Abigail was in her final days start to creep into his system. “I’m here, don’t worry. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.” He kept repeating it until he couldn’t anymore. Mostly in hopes that Meredith somehow could hear him but couldn’t respond, and also to keep himself calm.

Part of him felt partially responsible for whatever happened. She was tired and yet he paged her to go into surgery. He’d heard her talking to Jackson about how she was jealous that he had been in an OR and not her. He knew he had a patient that needed a general surgeon, he figured it’d make her happy – and it did, and part of him selfishly wanted to spend time alone with her. Had the surgery set her over the edge? Was it too much? ‘No, Cormac. No time to think like that.’ He thought to himself. ‘Not right now, not when you’re trying to save her life. She needs you to be strong for her.’ Where was the damn gurney? With still no sign of any staff returning, Cormac was petrified that Meredith was running out of time. So, he gently picked her up and rushed her towards the ER. He couldn’t waste any more time waiting outside.

As he reached the doors to the ER, he saw Bailey, Koracick, and Altman gearing up. Cormac had mixed feelings about this – he was glad that the nurse who’d ran inside had alerted others to help him, but he was upset that he couldn’t get the gurney quick enough.

“Hayes, what the hell happened?” Bailey said as he laid Meredith down. Altman and Koracick immediately surrounded her and started hooking her up to monitors. “I… I don’t know. I was going to leave, and I just saw her laying there on the ground. I don’t know what happened.” He turned away from Meredith for a moment to put on a trauma gown and gloves, then immediately returned to her side. He was so relieved when he turned around and the monitors confirmed her heart was still beating. He looked to the nurse who was with him in the parking lot and asked her to go get his bag from the pavement. It had his scrappy old N95, which he’d need if he wanted to help them with Meredith at all.

He couldn’t help but be pissed at himself for not telling Meredith about his feelings for her earlier. He was scared of them and what they meant. That fear seemed so insignificant now. So stupid. He could lose her, the only other person that understood him.

“She’s dehydrated, and it looks like she probably passed out from exhaustion. I guess it’s a good thing she passed out in the parking lot and not in her car. And it’s even better that you found her.” Koracick said after shining his flashlight in her eyes to make sure her pupils hadn’t blown. The nerves were eating Cormac up inside.

“I’m concerned about how low her oxygen levels are. I want to get her hooked up to IV fluids and continuous O2 until those levels improve” Teddy said as she grabbed the oxygen mask and placed it carefully over Meredith’s face. Bailey could see how distressed Cormac was about what had happened, he sat by Meredith’s side and held her hand, almost as if he were to let go, so would she. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her with tears welling in his eyes. “Dr. Bailey, is there anything I can do? Anything at all?” Cormac felt like he was a sitting duck – he wanted to do something to help out. He couldn’t just watch helplessly. Bailey sighed and racked her brain. “I’m worried she caught COVID. Get into full COVID equipment and then do not leave her side. Monitor her - you page me or Altman if anything looks off. She’s also going to need a familiar face to wake up to.” Hayes nodded and stood up, looking down at Meredith’s hand in his. Reluctantly, he let go to quickly get into his gear. Bailey grabbed her hand right afterwards. Cormac sprinted to get into his scrubs and full PPE, as well as text his son that there was an emergency and he wouldn’t be home that night.

When he returned, they were admitting Meredith and getting ready to transport her to her room. He walked beside her gurney, looking back to see her vitals every few seconds. When they finally settled in the room, Hayes took a seat right beside Meredith. Not too long after, Bailey, Koracick, and Altman left, leaving Hayes alone to take care of Meredith, and think about every worst possible case scenario.

Hours passed – Meredith’s vitals were still stable, but she still hadn’t woken up. Still holding her hand, he leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. He talked to Abigail and prayed that Meredith would wake up, then tried to get some rest. 3 hours later, Hayes was abruptly woken up by a small squeeze on his hand. He woke up immediately and saw that Meredith’s eyes were still closed. “Grey? Grey, can you hear me? I’m right here.” She squeezed his hand again. “Okay, Grey – you need to open your eyes.” Very slowly, Meredith opened her eyes and looked beside her. Cormac breathed a giant sigh of relief. He smiled at her, and she returned the smile. He had never been so relieved to see it. Weakly, she spoke. “What happened?” Cormac could tell that she was still tired and very confused. “I found you laying on the ground in the parking lot. You were dehydrated and exhausted. Your oxygen levels were concerning, so we tested you for COVID. It’s why you’ve got your mask on and the nasal cannula.” He locked eyes with her. He didn’t ever want to break it. “And?” She asked. “We haven’t gotten the results of your test back yet; we’re taking precautions just in case. I have to hand it to you, Grey. You gave me one hell of a scare out there.” He told her, which prompted a slight laugh from her. “I seem to be pretty good at doing that to everyone.” Cormac looked down and let out a dry chuckle. He looked back up at her and took in every feature of hers.

“Can you take a deep breath for me?” He asked her. She nodded and took in a deep breath. “Did that hurt?” He followed up. “Only a little.” Meredith could see the light in Cormac’s eyes flicker out a little when she said that. “Hayes, let’s not worry until we have to.” Meredith sighed and let her eyes drift around the room. “You know, while I was out, I actually thought I was dead.” She commented after a few fleeting moments of silence. “How come?” Cormac tilted his head, confused. “I saw Derek. We were on a beach together, and he called out to me. I thought I had died and was meeting Derek in the afterlife.” Cormac smiled at Meredith; he was glad she didn’t die but she was so happy to have seen Derek. “That must have been amazing.” She smiled at him; he was the only one who could understand why she was so happy. “It was. It truly was.” He gazed deeply at her. “No matter what happens with your test, I don’t regret staying with you. I’m just glad you woke up. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost you.” She grabbed his hand again and gave him a small smile while gazing softly into his eyes. They sat in silence for a while, then they lightly chatted while enjoying each other’s company until Bailey came by about an hour later.


	2. Whiskey Business

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of these one shots take place during season 17, especially after Hayes found Meredith, but none of them exist in the same world/ universe :)

Hayes was distraught – he’d just found Meredith lying unconscious on the ground. He’d gotten her back to consciousness just before heading into the ER, and she seemed to be doing better with the oxygen mask they’d placed on her. She’d been terrified about what had happened, as was Hayes. Meredith felt awful that Hayes had found her in such a dire state, but she was glad that she had someone familiar near her when she woke up. Yet 2 days later, Meredith Grey began to destabilize and crash. Hayes had been on facetime with her when she began to complain that she was having a hard time breathing, and her monitors began to beep like crazy.

Hayes could see the terror in Meredith’s eyes as she struggled to keep herself breathing and awake for him. His heart dropped and he quickly turned around from his place in the hospital, racing to her room. He’d got there just in time, and he placed an O2 mask over her face. “I’m here, Grey. I got you.” He held her hand as she tried to take deep breaths in, and as tears ran down her face. “Hey, hey, you’re okay. You’re not alone. You’re going to get through this.” Hayes was glad he had his surgical PPE on, so that Meredith could focus on him and focus on breathing. He stroked her hair with his free hand. Meredith took her hand and took off her O2 mask for a moment.

“You… could get… sick…. Hayes.” She said through deep breaths. Hayes closed his eyes and she put the oxygen mask back on. Her breathing began to stabilize as she looked at him. “I know. But I’m going to stay with you and I’m going to comfort you anyways, because right now you need it. I care about you too much to let you struggle alone.” Meredith let out a sigh and gave Hayes a grateful look. She took off her oxygen mask again, and luckily her oxygen levels didn’t drop significantly. “You always know how to distract and relieve me.” She said with a weak smile. Hayes chuckled softly, thinking back to the last time he and Meredith had hung out together, drinking whiskey in his office, before the pandemic took over their lives.

  


A slight knock on the door, “Hey, you said you had whiskey?” Meredith poked her head into Hayes’ office. She’d had a long day, as did he, and she was excited to have some down time, hanging out with her friend. Hayes nodded back at her, holding up the bottle he kept hidden in his office. Meredith entered the room, quickly closing the door behind her, and she smiled excitedly at the bottle and then at Hayes who had begun pouring the drinks into 2 glasses. He shot her a half-smile, it looked like the same slanted smile that Alex always had, and he handed her the drink and she sat down beside him on the couch in the office. “So,” Hayes started, his gaze catching Meredith’s excited eyes – he felt his heart flutter as she smiled and took a sip of her drink. “How crazy was your day today?” He finished. Meredith shook her head and scoffed. “Insane. The pileup resulted in 9 traumas coming into the ER, 7 of which needed a general surgeon, and Jo and I were the only ones available since Bailey was handling the ER. I think I did 4 surgeries today. My feet are killing me now.” Meredith laughed, giving Hayes the same butterflies he felt every time she smiled or laughed around him. He made a mental note to not let him or Meredith drink too much – the spark between the two was electric and he knew it, but he didn’t want to feel as though he’d taken advantage of her, because he _seriously_ wanted to kiss her.

“I can just imagine – most of my surgeries today were elective surgeries, but we had one kid come in from the pileup.” Meredith raised her eyebrows – she hadn’t known that there was a kid in the crash. “Did they make it through?” Meredith inquired. “It was touch and go for awhile, but he did.” Meredith smiled again, which Hayes reciprocated. Meredith downed the rest of the whiskey in her glass, which was quite a significant amount and Hayes looked at her, bewildered.

“What?” Meredith said with a laugh. “I never would have pegged you to be the kind to be able to down a glass of whiskey.” He told her. She laughed again. “A whole bottle of tequila is my drink of choice; whiskey is nothing. Doesn’t mean I’ll ever say no to it.” Hayes’s brows furrowed as he looked at her, impressed. He seriously wouldn’t have assumed Meredith to be a tequila girl – but it made her even more attractive to him. “Interesting.” Hayes smirked.

Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, his once full bottle of whiskey was getting increasingly low. ‘So much for not drinking too much,’ he thought. Meredith still talked as composed as she was when she entered the office, as did Hayes, but the little voice in his head telling him to tell Meredith about his feelings for her and kiss her was getting increasingly loud. Whiskey made Meredith incredibly giggly, which did not help Hayes keep his self-restraint in check. He found himself inching closer and closer to Meredith on the couch, which she never resisted.

Their conversation got increasingly flirtier as they talked, and Hayes knew at that point that there was no stopping it – if Meredith Grey did not get up and leave that office within the next 10 minutes he’d give in to the voice in his head that was, at this point, screaming at him to kiss her. Little did he know, Meredith’s inner monologue was also practically begging her to kiss him. Conversation died down ever so slightly, and in a moment of total silence, Cormac Hayes blurted out the words he’d been keeping to himself for months. “I like you, Grey.” Meredith was taken aback. “I’m sorry, what?” She asked him. He shook his head. There was no going back now. “I like you. I have for months. I’ve been denying it and going crazy because every time you laugh or smile around me, I get these feelings that I thought I’d never experience again after Abigail died. And I might only be telling you this because my inhibitions are out the window, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I like you. And I realize this may ruin our friendship, but I can’t keep denying to myself that I want you.” Meredith’s inhibitions were completely gone. She quickly turned around and shut the blinds behind them. “What are y-“ Hayes began to say before he was sharply cut off by Meredith pressing herself against him and kissing him passionately. Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her so he could get her as close to him as physically possible. She hooked her leg around his, pulling herself even closer to him, as if it was possible that there could even be any more space between the two of them.

5 minutes later and they finally pulled away from each other. “That was…” Hayes’ voice trailed off. “Wow.” All the tension that had been building since they met reached its boiling point. “Yeah. Wow.” As soon as it hit Meredith about what had happened, she immediately found herself worrying about Hayes. She knew how hard those firsts could be. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?” Hayes laughed at how quickly Meredith could switch from being so flirty and passionate with him to someone who wanted to comfort him. “I’m good, Grey. Promise. I don’t think I could’ve imagined going through that first with anyone else.” Meredith smiled knowing that he was okay. It was getting late, so Meredith stood up. “I’m glad. It’s getting late, I should probably get back to my kids, shouldn’t I?” Hayes stood up as well, facing Meredith. “Yeah… yeah, you probably should.” Hayes took Meredith’s hand in his, in a moment of pure confidence. “Just for the record…” Meredith leaned into Hayes and brought her lips to his ear. “I like you too… and I really want to do that more often.” Meredith leaned back and smirked at Hayes. He stared at her as she turned away from him and headed for the door. Before she left the office, she turned back to look at him one last time. “Goodnight Hayes. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Hayes smiled warmly at the woman in front of him. “Night, Grey.” He winked at her. She smiled back at him and turned around, walking out of the office over to the attending’s lounge. Hayes watched her walk away, a smile still on his face. For the rest of the night, both surgeons thought obsessively about what had happened.


	4. The Confession

Cormac Hayes had been wrestling with himself over his feelings for Meredith Grey for months. So much so that he often felt the urge to tell her while they were halfway through a surgery. Every time they worked on a case with each other, he became more in awe of her surgical talent, her kindness, and professional demeanour around patients. It took everything in him to not reveal his feelings after every surgery they performed together. He decided to confide in Link, one of his closest male friends at Grey-Sloan. Link had encouraged him to tell her, of course. He knew the two would make a great pair, and he was pretty sure Meredith was interested as well. Jo, Amelia, and Maggie all felt the same way. They were fully aware of the feelings the peds surgeon was harbouring for their sister/ friend – but none of the three dared to say it out loud or confront either of them about it.

They did, however, start a bet pool surrounding when Hayes would tell Meredith about his feelings for her. Whoever guessed the closest won $300. Amelia gave him 2 weeks before he broke and told her. Jo was not optimistic he’d hold out even that long and gave him a maximum of 5 days – he had been keeping his act up for months already and she had witnessed him almost breaking multiple times. Maggie figured he’d probably tell her in 3 weeks. She had no reasoning for the guess, other than that it would still probably take him a few weeks to figure out the best way to tell her. He was a sentimental guy, and she didn’t think he’d just want to blurt it out, out of the blue.

1 week later, Cormac asked Meredith out for drinks. He phrased it in a way that she could assume they were hanging out as friends. He knew he had to tell her that he liked her sooner, rather than later – well before Andrew DeLuca was back at work. The bet pool participants were officially on standby – would Jo’s guess win at 2 days behind 1 week, or would he hold out a few more days and tell her closer to Amelia’s 2-week guess?

Meredith said yes to drinks, of course. She liked spending time with Cormac, and she liked tequila too. She was excited to see him outside of the hospital for once. As she sat at home, getting ready for her outing, Amelia, Jo, and Maggie surrounded her like excited puppies. Meredith had told them that she was hanging out with Hayes for the night and was incredibly suspicious of her sister’s excitement. They helped her pick out her outfit – a sweater with chains around the shoulders that Jo had lent her, a pair of plaid, high-waisted pants, and a pair of cute little black, suede booties. Maggie had insisted that they do her hair and makeup a little before she left, too.

Meredith left for the outing around 7pm. She and Cormac arrived at the same time, conveniently. They headed down to the bar, as she ordered her usual. “Tequila – wow. I don’t know if I would’ve expected that from you.” Hayes said with a laugh, ordering a beer. “Don’t worry, I won’t order too many.” Meredith knew full well that the night would not end pleasantly if she drank too much tequila. They grabbed and paid for their drinks, then headed to a booth. “You know, my sisters were incredibly excited about us getting drinks tonight, for some reason.” Meredith said with a laugh. “For some reason, that doesn’t surprise me.” Hayes responded with a chuckle.

The two had a seamless conversation the whole time they were at the bar – nothing ever felt awkward, and there were never any long periods of silence. As the time approached 8:30, Meredith found her legs getting restless. “Hey, Hayes, do you mind if we walk around outside for a little bit? It’s getting crowded in here, and I really need to move around.” She said, with a slight look of plea on her face. “Yeah sure, let’s go.” All Hayes could think was that the timing for revealing his feelings was approaching quickly, and that Meredith didn’t need to have any plea on her face – he’d go wherever she wanted to, no questions asked.

As the two surgeons walked around downtown, Hayes was conflicted as to if and how he should segue to tell Meredith about his feelings. He knew he wanted to do it tonight. “Hey, Grey, do you still have feelings for DeLuca?” There was really no segue to this question, but Hayes knew that if he pushed off telling her for any longer, he wouldn’t do it ever. “I mean, he’s the first person I said ‘I love you’ to after Derek. I’ll always care about him, but I think I’ve moved on.” Meredith said, pushing her bangs out of her face. She stopped in her tracks, and Hayes did too, turning himself to face Meredith. “Why. What’s the matter?” Meredith tilted her head, confused.

The seconds of silence that followed felt like an eternity, and as if a sign to go for it directly from Abigail, it began to rain steadily. “You…” Hayes began to say, pausing to reflect and make sure he said everything exactly how he wanted to. “I’m really grateful, to have you, uh, in my life. You amaze me, Grey. When you work, the way you handle yourself, your precision, and the sheer amount of talent you possess. It’s incredible.” Meredith was flattered, and also completely unbothered by the rain falling down around them.

“I asked you if you had any feelings for DeLuca, because if you did, have feelings for him, I wouldn’t tell you that…” Hayes’s voiced trailed off, planning his next words very carefully. “That what?” Meredith had a good suspicion about what Hayes was about to say, but knew she had to let him finish.

“That I have feelings… for you. And I think I have since I arrived in Seattle. I didn’t want to interfere when you were with DeLuca. I also didn’t think it would be possible for me to feel anything for anyone after Abigail died, but you took me by surprise.” As Hayes was talking, he hardly noticed Meredith walking closer, and closer to him, until he looked up at her, and found her standing on a few inches away from him. He took her hands in his, in a moment of confidence. “If I’m being honest, I’ve been interested too… for a few months now.” Meredith looked directly into Hayes’ eyes. The rain began to fall even harder, and yet neither of them were phased by it.

Meredith placed her hand on Hayes’ cheek, as the tension between them grew. In a split second’s decision, Hayes pulled Meredith forward, wrapping his arms around her waist, kissing her. She immediately fell into it, placing her hands around the sides of his face. Neither of them wanted to break away – everything felt right. As the rain poured around them, the only thing they could focus on was each other. It was as if time stood still, and they were the only people on earth.

When they finally broke apart, Hayes had an attractive new confidence to him. “I want to take you on a date – a real date.” Meredith shot him a bright smile, kissing him again for a second. “Can I take that as a yes?” Hayes smirked at her. Meredith laughed, responding, “Yes, you absolutely can.” Hayes shot her a sweet smile. The two finished the rest of their date, walking side-by-side as they ate some food-truck dinner. They got ahold of Link to drive them back to Meredith’s house, and he waited in the car as they said goodbye on the front porch.

“Grey?” Hayes said, thinking about their kiss and Abigail. “Yeah?” Mer responded, quietly. “I couldn’t have imagined that first with anyone else. You are pretty special.” Meredith smiled at the floor, the looked up again and kissed him once more. “Thanks. You are too.” They stood, staring at each other for a few more moments. “I should probably get going back to my boys. Can’t have them staying up playing video games too late.” Hayes smirked, which made Mer laugh. “Goodnight Hayes, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Meredith said, letting go of his hand that she’d somehow grabbed ahold of, and they parted ways for the night, both on cloud nine.

Maggie, Amelia, and Jo immediately hounded Meredith when she got inside. “WHAT HAPPENED WHILE YOU WERE OUT TONIGHT?” Amelia exclaimed, her eyes almost jumping out of her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” Meredith said, trying to play it off. “What do you MEAN? We saw that kiss on the porch, Mer! Now, spill!” Jo pushed. “Well, we had drinks, walked around downtown, he told me that he has feelings for me, and we kissed in the rain. That’s as much information as you guys are getting.” Jo laughed, looking at Amelia and Maggie. “Looks like you guys owe me $150 each” she bragged. “Were you guys placing bets on my love life?” Meredith said, in shock. “No, we were placing bets on when Hayes would finally admit that he likes you. I guessed the closest, so now they owe me $150 each.” Jo said, which made Meredith laugh. Meredith stayed up another hour, talking with her sisters, before heading to bed. She went to sleep that night with a smile on her face, replaying her incredible, whirlwind night with Hayes in her head.


	5. It Takes A Village

Word at Grey-Sloan Memorial spread fast – only a few hours after being admitted into the hospital after being found unconscious in the parking lot, practically the whole staff knew that Meredith Grey was once again in a fight for her life.

She’d woken up 4 hours later, with countless text messages from her friends at the hospital. She’d wondered how everyone found out so quickly and why everyone was acting like her exhaustion was just a big deal. That was, until she realized she’d become a patient in the COVID-19 Unit at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital. What she didn’t realize was that her closest friends at the hospital were inundating her old friends that’d moved with seemingly hourly updates about her condition.

-

“Hey Yang, I found Grey passed out in the parking lot. Not sure why she’s not responding, just thought I’d let you know. I’ll keep you updated.” Cormac Hayes messaged Cristina Yang about Meredith the moment he got the chance. He knew she’d want to know if something were to happen to her best friend. “Okay. Thanks.” Was all he got back from his former boss.

The next morning. “She woke up a little while ago, in case you want to facetime her. She’s tested positive for COVID. She’s not taking it very well.” He sent her the update. Not too long afterwards, she replied. “Ugh, seriously? Great. Just great. Um, okay. Yeah, I’ll facetime her. Thanks for letting me know. Get yourself tested as well. Also, she’s incredibly bitchy when she’s in the hospital, so word of advice: stay on her good side.” Cormac chuckled slightly at Cristina’s advice. “I’ll try my best” He responded. Seconds later, he got paged away, back to the peds floor. He didn’t want to leave Meredith, he certainly would’ve much rathered paging her to join him, in order to spend some time alone with her, and see her work her surgical magic. 

-

“Meredith has COVID.” Maggie said through tears once Alex picked up his phone. “Damnit. Damnit!” Alex yelled. “Please just tell me it’s a mild case.” Maggie sighed. “Well, she was found unconscious in the parking lot of the hospital, so I don’t know. I hope it’ll just be mild.” She told him truthfully. 

“You’re her power of attorney.” Maggie reminded him, after remembering herself. “I… I can’t. I would, if I could be there in person. I swear to god, I would in a heartbeat. But I can’t travel. She has to be okay.” Maggie closed her eyes and grimaced at Alex’s worry. “Does Yang know?” Alex finally said after a few moments of silence. “Uh, yeah. Hayes is keeping her updated.” On the other side of the phone, Alex looked confused. “Hayes? Who’s that? And how does he know Yang?” 

Maggie had forgotten that Alex had never gotten the chance to meet Hayes or co-chief with him because of his formerly unexplained absence. “Uh, long story, but I’ll try to make it short. He’s the new you. Chief of Peds, that is. He worked with Cristina in Switzerland, she sent him here, he and Meredith became friends. They’re... weirdly close.” Alex raised his eyebrows on the other end of the phone. “Hmm. I’ll have to give Yang a call later today. Okay, Pierce, I have to go, but keep me updated. Okay?” “Okay.” End call.

-

“Torres! How are you holding up in New York?” Miranda Bailey asked her former classmate. She knew that New York was hit hard by COVID. “It’s a madhouse here, Bailey. What about you?” Miranda silently shook her head as she went over every little issue in the hospital. “Oh! Hi Bailey!” Arizona Robbins’ voice piped up from the other end of the phone. “Hey Robbins. Uh, it’s crazy over here too. Grey just tested positive last night after being found unconscious and pulled off the pavement by our chief of peds. It feels like everything is on fire and we have no way of getting out.” She said, entering her office. The only place she could find some solace, and take off her mask within the hospital because she was alone. 

“Wait. Meredith has COVID? What?” Calliope’s voice quickly changed from frustrated with the state of the world, to an intense worry. “And Alex found her?” Arizona followed. “Yes, she did. And oh boy, is she pissed. And Arizona, no. Alex no longer works at Grey-Sloan. Cormac Hayes is our chief of pediatrics, he was recommended for the job by Cristina Yang. So, figures he’d be the one to find Meredith Grey passed out on the ground.” She said with a slight sarcastic undertone to her final sentence. “What?? What did Alex do now?” Arizona’s voice peaked. “Uh… he quit. And moved to Kansas. And divorced Jo to be with Izzie Stevens.” Callie let out a huge sigh and chuckled to herself, remembering when George had left her to be with Izzie. “You’re kidding…” Arizona said seriously. “I wish I was.” Bailey said. “Well, keep us updated on Meredith. Good luck out there.” Callie said, trying her best not to show how worried she was for her friends at Grey-Sloan. “Will do. You too, the both of you, stay safe.” End call. 

-

4 days later. Meredith was only getting worse. After facetiming with Meredith, Hayes picked up his phone again and dialed Cristina Yang’s number. He knew the time difference was insane, but he also knew that Yang wouldn’t care about the time when she heard the update about her friend. “Hayes, what the hell. It’s like, 3am.” Cristina scolded him as she wished about going back to sleep. “It’s Grey. She’s doing worse, Yang. I’ve tried my best to be there with her whenever I can, but god it’s so suffocating to see her deteriorate the way she is.” Cristina was now wide awake. “Hayes, this is Meredith Grey we’re talking about. She’s practically immortal. Compared to everything else she’s survived, this virus is nothing.” Hayes chuckled slightly at Cristina’s words. “You know, it’s funny. I told her that this virus had nothing on her as well.” The former colleagues went silent for a few moments. 

“She told me she’s scared to die.” Cormac finally said after he regained his train of thought. “You must be pretty special then. She doesn’t just open up like that to anybody.” Cristina said, smirking to herself at the other end of the line. Hearing Cristina say that made Cormac’s heart start to race, and the little internal butterflies appeared as he thought about his relationship with Meredith Grey. “Alright, I know it’s late. Get back to sleep. And for the love of god, don’t tell me that you’re afraid if you fall asleep you won’t wake up again, as well.” Cristina laughed slightly. “Keep me updated, and let me know if there’s anything I can do.” She ordered him. “Got it. Night, Yang.” Cristina yawned. “Night, Hayes. Keep an eye on my girl for me.” End call. 

-

“How’s she doing?” Alex’s rough morning voice rang through Maggie’s phone. “Not good, Alex. Her lungs, I mean- I just don’t know. It’s not promising for a speedy recovery.” She said, taking a deep breath. Sometimes, Maggie had to remind herself that she could breathe properly. Alex groaned on the other end of the phone call. “I hate this. I hate that she’s alone. She’s always had me, or Shepherd, or Yang by her side, laying with her on those hospital beds. Even if we were all there, she’d still be alone. I hate every single part of this.” Maggie sighed. She almost couldn’t handle the amount of anguish she was hearing from Alex. “Well, if it’s any consolation, even though we can’t lay with her, she’s not alone. Someone is always with her. If I’m not in the room, sitting beside her bed, Amelia will facetime her. Or Hayes will be in there, cracking jokes with her and distracting her. If he’s not on the peds floor, he’s with her. She also has all the people on her medical team, but I’m not sure if they really count since they have to go in there with her periodically. She’s not alone, Alex.”

A sigh of relief came from Alex. He was still pissed that no one could lay with her to comfort her, but it brought him some comfort to know that she had people looking out for her constantly that weren’t involved in her medical care. “This Hayes guy - I’ve heard quite a bit about him from Yang now that I’ve talked with her. Is he as good a friend as he’s made out to be? Does the rest of the staff like him, or is it just Mer?” Alex asked. “Well… he’s well liked among the staff. But Mer really seems to like him, and he seems to reciprocate it. They were always working together before the pandemic. I found out that he was the one who found her on the ground the night she passed out and tested positive. He is - a good friend to her. They get each other, and need each other on a whole other level than most of the rest of us.” Silence. “Think they’ll get together?” Alex asked after a few moments had passed. “If she survives, I hope so.” A pang hit Maggie’s heart as she uttered the words, ‘if she survives.’ The same pang hit Alex as he heard her say it. “I have to go, Alex.” Maggie said, as she felt tears forming in her eyes the more she thought about her sister’s condition. “Alright, talk later. Bye Pierce.” End call.

-

Incoming call. Callie Torres. Miranda picked up her phone, dreading the update she’d have to give Callie on Meredith. “Hey Torres.” She said as she answered the call. “Bailey! How’s Meredith doing?” Callie said happily, expecting a good response from Bailey. “I wish I had good news for you, Callie. Her lungs have gotten substantially worse, she collapsed again, she’s sleeping more often. She updated her power of attorney and her advanced directives. She’s preparing for the worst. If I’m being honest… I’m starting to as well.” A tear ran down both Bailey and Callie’s cheeks. “Have you talked to her at all?” Bailey inquired. “No. But I probably should, shouldn’t I?” Callie asked, shuddering as she thought about how she would feel if news got any worse. This was Meredith Grey, right? Basically immortal, stronger than a bull, always willing to put up the fight. Well, except for that day where she stopped fighting in the water and almost died after drowning in Elliot’s Bay, but Callie tried not to think about that day very often. “Yeah. You should.” Bailey said, grimacing at the thought of having to call anyone and tell them that Meredith had died. She hoped she’d never have to. “Alright. Thanks Bailey. I’ll talk to you later.”

-

“She’s in a coma.” A text that Cristina Yang, Calliope Torres, Arizona Robbins, and Alex Karev, amongst many others, received 2 days after they’d been informed of Meredith’s worsening condition. The amount of tears had been shed in the past 48 hours across both past and present staff at Grey-Sloan Memorial would surprise the average person. Everyone was worried as Meredith’s life hung in the balance. When Hayes had told Cristina that she was in a coma, he thought he may have heard her cry for the first time in the now almost 3 years of knowing her. When Maggie told Alex through broken sobs, all Alex could mutter was “Damnit. Damnit. Damnit.” over and over again. All he wanted was to be able to be there with her. Callie, Arizona, and Bailey broke down in tears together over the phone. Jackson had become a shell of himself, he couldn’t bring himself to cry when he updated April about their friend’s dire situation and heard her sobs.

-

1 week. It’d been 1 week since Cormac Hayes had gotten a text from Meredith Grey, heard her voice, or seen her eyes brighten as she smiled behind her mask. He kept thinking about their last surgery. Could that have been the last surgery they’d ever perform together? And their last conversation played in his head. “This virus has got nothing on you.” He’d told her. Did he just tell her that to ease his own mind? God, there was nothing more that Cormac Hayes wanted than to hear Meredith Grey say his name again. To tell him that he looked like crap again. His mind raced as he laid in his hotel room. He was away from his boys, and his closest friend at the hospital was hanging onto life by a thread. He couldn’t just keep lying there, letting his dark and twisty thoughts take hold of him. So, he got up and drove to the hospital. And he sat with Meredith in the dead of the night. The sound of her breathing comforted him. He was in full PPE, and he held her hand, praying that she would wake up. God, he needed her to wake up.

Hour 3 of his overnight stay in Meredith’s room - that he knew he’d probably get in trouble for, but frankly didn’t care too much about getting in trouble for, if it meant Meredith wasn’t alone while she fought for her life - Cormac Hayes called Cristina Yang. It was early morning there, and Hayes figured that even if Meredith couldn’t hear, Cristina would likely want to talk to her friend. “Hey. What’s up?” Cristina said as she answered her phone. “Not much, unfortunately. I wish I had news. I’m just sitting in her room with her now.” There was a lull in conversation. “So, why’d you call me then?” Cristina asked, curious as to why she’d get a call from Hayes if there was no update. “I’ve got you on speaker. I don’t know, I was hoping that maybe hearing your voice, if she can hear at all, would help her decide to live.” Cristina snickered to herself internally. “That’s sweet. And gross.” Cristina had just woken up, which was when her sarcasm was at its peak. “Yeah, I realized that once I said it.” He hit back. 

He didn’t know if it was the exhaustion hitting him, or an overwhelming sense of dread that filled the room, but Cormac admitted to Cristina, “I’m trying to be strong for her. When she was awake, everyone else around her just worried and worried and worried. She told me I was the only one who distracted her from the fact that she was sick. And I’ve been there for her sisters as best as possible, trying to be strong and distract them as I would her. But god, Yang, I’m so scared.” Cristina sighed. “I know. I am too. We just have to remember that this is Meredith. Hayes, you likely haven’t heard these stories, but she’s survived a bomb, a plane crash, a drowning, and so much more. She’s strong, and she’s going to die when she’s old, in a nursing home, and surrounded by love. She’s probably being convinced by Derek to live right now, if this time is anything like her drowning.” Cristina said, her softer side appearing, trying to convince both herself and Hayes that Meredith would be okay, eventually. “I know she’s strong. I see it every time she talks. But I still can’t help but worry. It feels too much like watching Abby slowly fade away from the cancer. She’s just too important to me, I can’t lose her. I can’t see another disease take away another woman that I…” Hayes caught himself before finishing his sentence. Unfortunately for him Cristina caught on to what he was going to say. “Love? Cormac Hayes, were you going to say that you love her?” Hayes didn’t respond, he only closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact of whatever comment Cristina was going to make next. “Oh. My. God. You were. You were going to say love! Ha ha! Yes!” Cristina gloated and teased, since it was a good conversation deflection from the sad, sappy one that she and Hayes were previously sharing. 

“Alright, place that phone next to Meredith’s ear. I’m gonna talk some sense into her. She’ll listen to me, she always does.” Hayes chuckled, moving the phone closer to Meredith’s ear. “Alright, Mer, you gotta wake up. For the love of god. I know you’re listening. You’ve got too many people that love you, waiting for you to wake up. So as much as I’m sure that you’re enjoying hanging out with Derek, Lexie, Mark, George, and all the other people you’ve lost, you have too many more people on earth that need you more than them. Dying isn’t an option.” Hayes smiled and chuckled to himself as Meredith’s twisted sister gave her a pep talk that only she could. It restored his hope that she’d pull through. About 30 minutes later, he said goodbye to Cristina, not knowing that only 2 hours later, he’d be calling her again with one of the final updates he’d ever give to her about Meredith, because Meredith would be able to begin updating Cristina on her own. She’d woken up. 

He messaged Bailey, Richard, Maggie, Amelia, Teddy, Jackson, Link, and Owen in a group message as soon as her eyes fluttered open. He smiled breathlessly at her and she smiled weakly when she saw that he was in her room with her. He’d never been happier to see her smile. “Thank you, for deciding to live.” He said quietly. “Thank you for not speaking loudly.” She laughed to herself, a slight cough following. He laughed with her. His favourite thing to do. Laugh with Meredith Grey. Within 30 minutes, practically everyone knew that Meredith had woken up. There was joy in the hallways of Grey-Sloan Memorial for the first time since the pandemic started. Meredith grabbed Cormac’s hand and squeezed it as he continued to sit with her, talking to her about what she’d missed while she was out. They were glad to hear each other’s voices again. 

-

“She’s awake.” Maggie and Bailey texted Callie, Arizona, and Alex. Sighs of relief erupted from all 3 former Grey-Sloan surgeons. 

Meredith Grey still had a long road to recovery, but her waking up from her coma was a step in the right direction. Meredith had decided that once she was finally deemed eligible to leave the hospital and quarantine in a hotel, she wanted Cormac Hayes to stay with her. Andrew DeLuca was quite upset with this, he wanted Meredith to choose him, because he figured that he was already her doctor while she was in the hospital. However, she told him that it was only because Hayes wasn’t working on the COVID floor like Andrew was, where he was needed daily, as opposed to the peds unit, which was incredibly quiet and could be looked after by Jo. And this was all true, for the most part. But Meredith had her other reasons for asking Hayes to stay with her. Cormac, unknowing of Meredith’s true reason for asking him, of course, happily agreed. He would have agreed had he known her real reason as well. He’d been there when she’d first collapsed, then again when she needed someone to be vulnerable with, then again when she’d woken up. Now, he could be there to see her every step of the way to a full recovery and getting back to work. To him, any time he got to spend with Meredith after she woke up from her coma felt like a blessing, so he wasn’t going to pass up the offer to be with her, alone, every day, for 2 weeks straight. Meredith simply might have just casually neglected to mention that she chose him because she heard him talking to Cristina Yang the night she woke up, and heard him almost say that he loves her. Of course, she’d keep that little detail to herself til much, much later.


	6. Just Between The Two Of Us

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. People weren’t supposed to be dying so brutally… so alone. She wasn’t supposed to be running a code every 5 minutes. And yet, the pandemic started, made its way to America, and ruined everyone’s chance at a normal year - all because leadership didn’t believe in science. And people don’t wear masks. God, this was infuriating. People didn’t have to be dying - not at this rate, at least. Meredith Grey was no kind stranger to death, but she was to this. She was to the blinking of her pager calling her for a code blue every 5-10 minutes. She felt her heart break more and more every time it went off. Because it meant a family wouldn’t get to say goodbye. She’d have to call a family that’d been praying for a good outcome and tell them that their loved one was dead - and it was all preventable. That’s what she couldn’t wrap her head around. This was preventable. If people cared about each other and the health of the people around them, this could all be prevented. 

The supply closet on the 4th floor took the brunt of her anger and sadness. She’d reached her boiling point - she couldn’t take all the death, all the disease, and certainly not all the codes she’d been doing. She’d been run thin, and the innocent supply closet was just unlucky enough to be the target of her anger when she finally broke down. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  _ It wasn’t supposed to be like this _ . And so, in the safety of the supply closet, tears fell, carts were smashed, supplies were thrown and a mess was made. She never understood why it made her feel better to trash supply closets when she’d reached a boiling point, but she knew they were safe. If no one walked in, no one knew the rage, the pain, or the heartbreak. Of course that was only  _ if _ no one walked in. Just after everything had been trashed, Meredith leaned up against a shelf and cried. There was no trying to stop it, and so she didn’t. She cried so hard that she didn’t even hear the turn of the doorknob and see anyone walk in. Her demeanour quickly changed when she heard, “Grey?” She didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was, the Irish accent gave it right away.  _ Hayes _ . How did he always seem to find her when she needed someone? She turned around to face him, tear stained eyes. 

“Oh - Hayes. Sorry, I’ll uh… I’ll clean this up, okay?” She’d forgotten she was in a peds supply closet. “Hey - it’s okay, no need to be sorry. I was just looking for a couple of things, though it seems like they might... be on the floor right now.” He said in an attempt to try and make her laugh, which he was successful at. He could tell that whatever had happened was a long time coming. He’d only slightly dealt with the effects of COVID. He felt the sting of it in different ways, from the decrease in nurses, to the decrease in patients all together. Grey, Pierce, Bailey, Altman - they were the ones on the frontlines, dealing with the brute of it all. “Are you okay?” He said after a few fleeting moments of silence. The most she could muster up was to shake her head no, knowing that more crying was imminent. “Do you want to talk about it? Is there anything I can do?” He asked calmly. This was the longest they’d seen each other in weeks. And he wanted to help her. Slowly she sat on the ground and hugged her knees, prompting him to do the same. He was all ears if she was willing to talk.

“Wanna make this pandemic end?” She asked with a slight joking tone to her voice. It wasn’t like them to sit and have conversations like this without cracking a few jokes around each other. “Ay, if I could, you know I would Grey.” Meredith raised her eyebrows and nodded at his words. “Everyone’s dying. And you know as well as I do that we see death every day, but not to this extent. Not when it’s preventable, and they’re dying alone. I just finished calling my patient’s daughter, this sweet 16 year old girl who lost her dad 4 years ago - I had to tell her that her mom had died too. That girl is an orphan now, because of a preventable virus. And I mean… it’s just…” “Infuriating.” He finished her sentence. “Yeah. Infuriating.” Hayes closed his eyes and shook his head. “The world’s gone mad, Grey. And we’re the ones taking the brunt of it all. You more so than me, but I’ve spent a fair bit of time down in the COVID ward trying to help out when and where I can. People praise frontline workers, and then they don’t wear a mask and hold parties with 20 other people, which only adds to the caseload and doesn’t help in the slightest.” 

“Tell me about it,” Meredith said as she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry your patient didn’t make it. I know it probably hits close to home.” He said empathetically. The story struck a nerve in him as well, but he didn’t know the patient. All he knew was the chaos of her aftermath. And he thought of his boys, 16 and 14 in their own respect, and how devastated they’d be to lose both their mom and him within a 3 year time frame. “You’re probably the only person who really understands just how much it does.” She stated - she and Hayes had become quite close in the weeks leading up to the pandemic sweeping the states and infiltrating every little bit of their lives. They’d spent a couple of nights sharing whiskey in his office, talking about their kids, home lives, their past cases, finding new cases that she might be able to help him out with, Derek and Abigail, and ironically more recently, what they’d do if they were suddenly put into a life or death situation. And then, here they were. That was all just supposed to be  _ what ifs _ over whiskey talk, not a real life situation they’d find themselves and every other healthcare worker stuck in just a few weeks later. 

In a moment of quick thinking, Hayes stood up and walked over to Meredith. Both of them were in full PPE - gowns, gloves, and PAPR gear. He extended his hand for her to grab, and she curiously took it in her own. After pulling her to her feet, they stood in front of each other, making full eye contact. As if they were reading each other’s minds, both of them extended their arms and pulled each other in for a hug at the same time. They were safe from the absolute mess that was the world in that little supply closet. And so, they held each other. And for those few fleeting moments, the world was okay. No one was interrupting them, there was no bad news coming from the televisions, and most importantly, nobody was dying. For the first few moments in over 2 weeks, Meredith let herself breathe. “Thank you. I needed that.” Meredith said quietly as they pulled away. They’d technically broken a protocol but this counted as an extenuating circumstance in Hayes’ books. “I should probably get to cleaning this up before they call me for another code.” She said, looking around him to get a sense of the mess she’d made in there, so she could determine how long it’d take her to put it all back. “I’ll help you, it’ll make it go faster.” Hayes offered, to which Meredith smiled. “Sure, thanks. That would help a lot. And by the way, no one has to know about what just happened.” She said with a grateful look in her eye. “There’s already enough craziness past these doors, Grey. We can just keep this between the two of us. Now, let’s get to cleaning this place up before a nurse comes in and rips us a new one.”

And as they cleaned the place up, Meredith thought about how maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing when someone walked in after she’d broken down in a supply closet, it just had to be the  _ right person.  _ “You know where to find me if you need to vent or escape again.” Hayes said as they headed for the doors. She nodded at him, gave him a small smile, and then it was back to the madness. 


	7. Bad Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title based off of cheating anthem "Bad Idea" from Waitress. This one-shot does have a follow-up.

“God, it’s always Derek this, Derek that nowadays! Just forget about Derek, Mer! You’re with me now!” Andrew DeLuca yelled at Meredith in the hospital hallways, something that had become the norm for the estranged couple. Jaws dropped from surrounding hospital staff, including Cormac Hayes who was just in earshot of the argument. Meredith flinched at his words, recoiled and went completely silent. She stared at him, tears in her eyes, expecting him to immediately apologize, but he stood by his statement.

Meredith held her composure as best as possible, and sharply turned away from DeLuca, storming off. In a blind rage, she stormed into a nearby on-call room and slammed the door shut. She sat down on the bed, and the fits of tears came flooding in. Her tears blocked out all the noise around her – to the point that she didn’t hear the door to the on-call room open and close. For a whole minute, Meredith Grey didn’t even realize that Cormac Hayes had entered in the room, staring at her sobbing in the way that only a widow could.

Carefully, he sat down beside her on the bed and placed his hand on her knee, catching her off guard, long enough for her to realize who was beside her. Her first instinct was to wipe the tears away and act like she was fine, but when she realized that Hayes was the one beside her, she melted back down into a puddle of tears, falling quickly into his embrace. He covered her as she cried and rubbed her back in an attempt to calm her breathing and stop her from hyperventilating. A few minutes later, Meredith’s breathing stabilized and her cries died down. Cormac’s heart broke every time Meredith would stop crying for a moment, only for it to start up again a few seconds later. His scrub shirt was now stained with tears, but in that moment, nothing and no one else mattered except for Meredith.

Meredith looked up at Cormac, who’s eyes were filled with concern. “Is there anything I can do?” Meredith thought of every kind thing he could do for her as a friend, but the only thing Meredith wanted to do in that moment was get back at Andrew DeLuca for hurting her the way he did, and forget about him in the same way he’d told her to forget about Derek, even if it was just for a little while. “Kiss me.” She said, staring at him. He looked at her, confused. He couldn’t say that he didn’t want to kiss her, but he would’ve preferred her to not be in a relationship when doing so. “Grey, I can’t. You’re-“ He was cut off by the feeling of Meredith’s hand around his bicep. “I don’t care. I need to stop thinking about him, just for a little while. Please.” She leaned in closer to him. Cormac couldn’t help but feel like he was taking advantage of Meredith’s vulnerability, but she was asking, he really wanted to, and they’d already had their fair share of close-calls previously, especially after pulling off incredibly adrenaline-boosting surgeries together. Still, he hesitated. Meredith was at the point of begging. She needed the relief of kissing someone who genuinely cared for her.

“Please. I don’t trust anyone else, except you right now, Hayes.” She asked again, pleading. The small waver in her voice as she said his name was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Cormac Hayes wrapped his hand around the back of Meredith’s neck, kissing her in a way that was so passionate and fiery, it could have only been the result of many months of unresolved sexual tension. Immediately, Meredith felt a sense of safety with Hayes, something she didn’t realize she hadn’t felt since Derek, until she’d felt it again. As things began to heat up and escalate, Meredith remembered that everything they were doing was a first for Hayes. As she began to feel the urge to take things further, she stopped kissing Hayes and stared him straight in the eyes. “I want to do more than just kiss you, right now.” Hayes smirked at Meredith. “But these are all firsts for you. And if we take this any further, like I want to, I want you to have a safe word. If it becomes too much for either of us, the safe word is Switzerland. Okay?” Even with the slight pause in activities, the fire between Meredith Grey and Cormac Hayes only grew exponentially. There was no extinguishing that fire anytime soon. “Got it. You realize this is probably a really bad idea, right?” Meredith laughed, and leaned close to his ear, getting very close to full on straddling him. “Who doesn’t need a bad idea every once and a while?” She whispered. Immediately afterwards she pulled herself fully onto Hayes’ lap, and went straight back into kissing him, as if they’d never stopped.

It did not take long for them to find themselves entangling their bodies together on the bed. Luckily, the fight had happened at the end of both Meredith and Cormac’s shifts, meaning there was quite literally nothing stopping them from letting the inferno between them keep building. Meredith knew well enough to not let things go _too_ far, but shirts definitely came off and found their way to the floor.

After things between Cormac and Meredith finally died down, they laid together on the bed, feeding off each other’s safety and warmth. Meredith’s head laid comfortably on his chest, one arm around his torso. His one arm wrapped loosely around her waist, and he ran his fingers through her hair with the other. “Are you okay now?” He asked her. Her smile following the question was all the confirmation that he’d needed. “I should be asking you that.” She said, looking up at him. “Why?” He asked, confused. “It’s just… I know how hard those firsts can be.” Cormac used his free hand to grab Meredith’s, lacing their fingers together. “I’m okay.” He finally told her. “Good.” Meredith felt nothing but a complete and utter sense of safety, peace, and happiness as she laid beside him. “What?” She said as she looked up, happily confused as she felt Cormac begin to laugh a little to himself. “I’m sorry, it just hit me. You cheated on DeLuca. We’re cheaters now.” Meredith laughed along with him. “I guess we are. And the thing is, I don’t even care.” Meredith said as she snuggled in closer to Hayes. “So, is this a good time to mention that I may or may not have given DeLuca a piece of my mind after you left?” He asked, completely serious. Meredith laughed. “No, probably not. But thank you, for standing up for me.” Hayes kissed her palm. “I couldn’t listen to him talk to you the way he did and not say anything, so it was no problem. I’d do it again if you ever needed me to.” Meredith sighed, closing her eyes for a decently long time. She found herself ready to doze off for a little while as she laid there, completely safe, still, and quiet. “Do you mind if I take a quick nap? I forgot how tiring crying is.” She said quietly after a few minutes of silence. “Do whatever you want, I’m perfectly content to stay here however long you need.” With that, Meredith closed her eyes and let herself fall asleep on top of Hayes’ chest, with the complete knowledge that she’d just become a cheater, yet with absolutely no guilt whatsoever.


	8. You Matter to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow-up to Bad Idea

Cormac Hayes rested his eyes as the woman lying next to him slept peacefully. He listened to the quiet sounds of her breathing, as she rid herself of the day’s hardships. Her arm and head lay still on his chest, while his arm was wrapped loosely around her waist. He tried his best to shut off his mind and enjoy the peace and quiet, but his brain couldn’t stop racing. He couldn’t pinpoint what exactly he was thinking or feeling, but he couldn’t stop it. After 15 minutes of laying in complete silence and happiness, Cormac finally fell asleep too. For 30 minutes, he and Meredith slept peacefully in each other’s arms. And for 30 minutes, everything that was wrong in the world had seemingly been put on pause. Everything finally felt right for the first time in a very long time. That, of course, was until Andrew DeLuca walked into the very same on-call room where Meredith and Cormac slept.

Andrew had just finished helping his sister in her office, seemingly the only other doctor in the hospital who didn’t hate him after word spread quickly about what he’d said to Meredith. She certainly wasn’t very impressed with him, but she couldn’t hate her baby brother. He was on-call that night, and figured it would be best if he got a nap in, since he was tired and knew to sleep whenever he could. What he wasn’t prepared for, was to walk into the on-call room and be met with 2 scrub tops on the floor, accompanied by Cormac and Meredith fast asleep on each other on the bed nearby.

Cormac was woken up by the sound of the doorknob twisting, but he kept his eyes firmly shut, praying that the person about to walk in was anyone other than Andrew. Meredith was unroused by the sound. Luck clearly wasn’t going to stay on Meredith and Cormac’s side today, as the door slammed shut and was followed by a very loud and angry _“What. The. Hell.”_ From none other than Andrew DeLuca. ‘Damnit.’ Cormac thought to himself as he opened his eyes. He glanced over at Meredith for a moment, to see her wide awake, staring at Andrew. 

Andrew was _pissed_ – and Cormac made the unfortunate decision to stand up and put his scrub top on. He began to say something to try and diffuse the situation so Meredith wouldn’t get hurt, but before he could even get a word in, Andrew grabbed Cormac, slammed him into a wall and punched him – _hard._ “Andrew, please, no.” Cormac could hear Meredith say through tears. It seemed like Andrew was getting ready for Cormac to hit him back, but that never happened. He refused to become violent, especially in front of an already distraught Meredith. “Please, leave him alone.” She cried. As Andrew continued to punch Cormac, his mind wasn’t focused on defending himself, the only person he was concerned about was Meredith, and as long as Andrew wasn’t punching her, he would take it until he could get a word in and get away. His heart broke more and more as Meredith got up, sobbing while putting her scrub top on.

Cormac finally threw his hands up in surrender as Andrew threw another punch. The more he got hit, the worse Meredith’s cries got. He couldn’t stand hearing her in so much pain, and as much as he wanted to put the blame on himself, he just knew that would cause more punching and hurt Meredith even more. “Listen, pal,” Cormac started weakly, before he was rudely cut off. “Don’t you even think about calling me pal right now.” Cormac rolled his eyes. “Shut up, seriously.” He rebutted. “She was upset, rightfully so, and I followed her in here to make sure she was okay. She just used me for some temporary pain relief, that’s all. It didn’t mean anything.” Slowly, Andrew backed off. Cormac finally looked over to Meredith clutching her chest, bordering on hyperventilating. That one look to her was enough to set Andrew off again, and another punch flew. Cormac closed his eyes, bracing himself for whatever was about to happen, until he heard Meredith grunt and grab Andrew by the collar, flinging him away from Cormac and slamming him up against another wall. “Get the hell off of him!” She yelled through tears. Cormac took this as his chance to get out of there, but he stayed closely outside the door in case Meredith needed him.

“You have _no_ right to be so upset, Meredith. Seems to me like you’re actually really good at getting over people pretty fast.” Andrew glared at the woman in front of him, and she glared back. “I’m only saying this once, so listen up. You were the first man I ever trusted enough to love again after Derek, and that’s saying something. I never thought I’d ever in a million years feel love for someone again, or say I love you to another man. But YOU messed that up. YOU told me you felt inferior to Derek. Then to take some space. Then, that you didn’t love me or need me. And yet, I got back together with you. But then you told me to forget about Derek. You don’t get to tell me I don’t have a right to be upset, and you _certainly_ don’t get to determine how ‘good I am at getting over people.’ That’s not up for you to decide. Sure, maybe I was able to forget about you for the whole 2 hours we were in here. I wanted to. That was all I wanted to do, was to forget about you for a little while. And it worked. But I could NEVER forget about Derek. He is the love of my life, the father of my children. When you said that, when you told me to forget about him, you broke me. You broke my heart. And Hayes was there. He held me and helped heal me. I don’t regret a single thing we did in this room, and I refuse to apologize for how I chose to repair what you broke. So, we’re done. Stay the hell away from me, and from Hayes. I don’t want to hear your apology when you finally come to your senses.” Without missing a beat, Meredith turned around, exiting the on-call room and leaving Andrew standing there, stunned.

As she left the on-call room, her thoughts immediately drifted to Cormac. She frantically searched the hallways trying to find him, but it didn’t take long before she found him looking for gauze in the supply room next door. He caught her gaze as she slowly entered the room, tears in her eyes as she looked at him bleeding. “I… I’m sorry. I’m okay, I promise.” He told her as Meredith closed the door behind her, grabbing some gauze off the shelf. “No, you’re not okay, Hayes. You’re bleeding and you’ve got a nasty black eye forming. And don’t say sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong.” She reassured him as she placed the gauze on his face, causing him to wince. “Alright, come with me.” She said, holding out her hand. “Where are we going?” He asked, confused. “To the ER, to get you stitched up and to get some ice on that eye.” He avoided grabbing her hand but started walking towards the door with her following very quickly behind. When they reached the ER, Bailey and Link looked at Cormac in horror. “Dr. Hayes, what the hell happened?” Bailey called out to her chief of pediatric surgery. “DeLuca.” Meredith responded. Her eyes were bright red, stained from tears. Bailey didn’t have to ask any further questions to figure out what had happened. “Page Andrew DeLuca to my office right now.” Bailey said as she walked quickly away, looking back to Link. He nodded back at Bailey, then looked over to Meredith. “Hey, Mer, need a hand?” He asked. “Thanks, Link – but I’ve got it.” She called back to him as she closed the door to the previously empty trauma room.

Meredith immediately went to work, grabbing a suture kit and handing Cormac an ice pack to put on his eye.

“You weren’t temporary pain relief.” Meredith finally spoke up, after what felt like an eternity of silence. “What?” Cormac asked her, confused. “You told DeLuca that I just used you for temporary pain relief, but that’s not true.” They locked eyes, neither one of them wanting to take their gaze off each other. “Then what was it?” He said, eyes still locked with hers. “It was something that’s been a long time coming. You did so much more for me than just help me forget about him for a few hours. You made me feel safe, and beautiful, happy, and peaceful. You saved me from myself. You’re not just some rebound, or temporary pain relief. You matter too much to me for you to be anything other than someone I genuinely want to be with. You’re everything I never knew I needed.” Meredith finished, placing a small kiss on his lips. “When he was hitting me, I hardly even felt it. All my brain could focus on was the sound of your cries. Hearing you sob the way you did hurt me more than DeLuca ever could have.” Cormac told her as Meredith’s hand rested on his cheek. He was lucky that he came out of everything relatively unscathed. A tear ran down Meredith’s face as they stared at each other, and Cormac wiped it away with his thumb. “You matter to me, too.” He told her. “By the way,” He continued, a smirk forming on his face. “I heard you yelling at DeLuca from the supply closet. Gotta say, Grey – it was hot.” Meredith began laughing through her tears, and with her hands flung around his neck, she kissed him. He smiled and laughed into the kiss as well, and his arms wrapped around her body, resting on her lower back. They pulled away from the kiss and Meredith immediately pulled him in tightly for a hug. When they finally let go of each other after who-knows-how-long, Meredith leaned back into Cormac’s grasp and grabbed one of his hands that was sitting on her back. She smiled as she grabbed the ice pack off the bed beside Cormac and placed it in his hand. “Alright, Dr. Hayes. Keep that ice on your eye. Wouldn’t want that handsome face of yours to get _too_ bruised up.” She winked at him. Cormac smiled at the woman in front of him who was teasing and complimenting him at the same time. “God, how am I going to explain this one to my boys?” He said, lightening the mood once more, causing the both of them to laugh with each other about the situation. They were glad that they got to be happy together, again, not having to worry about anyone, or anything.


End file.
